PeopleSoft - Still the best ERP for very large enterprises!
May 20, 2021
PeopleSoft - Still the best ERP for very large enterprises!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with PeopleSoft Financials
PeopleSoft Financials is being used across our entire organization in many facets. It is used to solve numerous problems and facilitate most of our processes in some regard and to some degree. We use PeopleSoft for HR, Financials, CRM, Contracts & Grants, Capitalized Asset Management - you name it - PeopleSoft plays a role in every process and procedure. The biggest problem the system solves is bringing all of our locations together on a single chart of accounts and platform, therefore tearing down silos that exist previously, and standardizing all data entry and sharing of information.
- Integrating with other systems
- Providing a consistent user interface
- Automating workflow
- Standardizing added and updated modules
- Updating old modules with newer UI and features
- Adding more in-application help
- Efficiency and integration saves us dollars
- PeopleSoft is expensive to customize, however
- A larger learning curve costs us more up-front, as PeopleSoft is not easy to use and understand
- We manage our grants with much higher efficiency, allowing us to get more grants at higher dollars
We selected PeopleSoft Financials because it addresses every business need of our very large entity with separate offices over a relatively large geographical area. Most alternatives (with the exception of Oracle Cloud ERP and SAP) did not allow us to easily integrate and validate data sharing from our homegrown systems, of which we have a lot, and that was a huge factor as well. The most difficult part of transitioning to any ERP includes the cost of implementation and customization. If there is any downside to ERPs, it's the insane price tag on creating customized modules (and this is especially costly for PeopleSoft, SAP, and Oracle). Depending on the customization, this is usually in the 1+ million dollar range for a large enterprise. PeopleSoft can be customized to accomplish just about every single business need we've ever had, and that was a huge factor in the decision to use it. For smaller entities, there are many ERP solutions that you could use which will save you money and headaches in the long run. PeopleSoft is expensive, and it requires a lot of skill to implement, but when it is stable and customized to your process, there is nothing better out there for large to extra-large enterprises! Bottom line: If you have a big enterprise with a lot of moving parts, PeopleSoft could definitely be the right ERP for you. It's tried and true and has been since it appeared on the market.
Oracle PeopleSoft ERP Feature Ratings
Using PeopleSoft Financials
We use PeopleSoft for general accounting, contracts & grants, capital asset management, HR, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and so much more. Just about all of our tasks reach some data point in our PeopleSoft instance. It is integral to our success.
50 - You really need technical people to help you with PeopleSoft. Our group of talented functional and technical analysts is there to help when something goes wrong, and things do go wrong. It helps that our team is focused and rooted deeply in great customer service.
- General Ledger/General Accounting
- Consistent Chart of Accounts across all entities
- Managing a new Capital Asset from purchase to end of life surplus
- Offering an employee self-service for the top HR functions
- Customized pages for award and grant management
- To provide data to a host of other information and reporting systems
- Providing more self-service features
- Helping to automate certain processes
Evaluating PeopleSoft Financials and Competitors
Yes - We replaced a homegrown system that we outgrew. It worked well before we became very large and segmented in different locations, but PeopleSoft was needed to bring us to the next level and continue our growth and integration.
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
PeopleSoft is tried and true in our industry. We considered Oracle Financials, but PeopleSoft took the edge over it because it's been offering our industry the best solutions for decades. The ability to integrate all of our systems in one place, customize to our needs, and grow for the future sealed the deal.
I do not think we could have done any better.
PeopleSoft Financials Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was a major issue with the implementation - As I mentioned before, PeopleSoft is not intuitive. People have a hard time learning how to properly enter data and use the system throughout almost all facets of the implementation. Change management is always a huge ordeal with PeopleSoft, and I have been a part of the CM team on more than 10 implementations in my career. If I have to say lessons learned, it is to train early and often. Do roadshows to help people understand the differences, and show them the product. You cannot, and I repeat - cannot - just throw people into PeopleSoft and expect them to succeed.
- Custom modules not working with stock modules properly
- Data input not functioning properly
- Tables not built correctly and needing updates
- Testing not thorough enough
PeopleSoft Financials Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Good followup Knowledgeable team Kept well informed Support cares about my success | Difficult to get immediate help |
We have an in-house group of PeopleSoft experts we carefully curated and recruited, so we do not subscribe to any premium support through Oracle.
If you are looking for exceptional support, then Oracle products are not for you. Oracle is profit-driven, and most things end up requiring more expenditures. Unfortunately, in 25+ years of experience working with Oracle Financials and PeopleSoft, I cannot ever recall receiving exceptional support for any issue. I truly wish this was not the case but has always been my biggest sticking point with Oracle products other than the extremely high cost of ownership and operation.
Using PeopleSoft Financials
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
None | Do not like to use Unnecessarily complex Difficult to use Requires technical support Not well integrated Inconsistent Slow to learn Cumbersome Lots to learn |
- Employee self-service
- Time and Expense
- General Ledger
- Cost transfers and funding entry
- Contracts and Grants
- Capital Asset Management
Yes, but I don't use it